Beat the Post-Holiday Blues

We all know someone who repeats their same holiday stories over and over again to everyone including your hamster, and just changes the subject of whatever the current conversation to ‘that one time they went to Brazil’. Just imagine, you are at party and your friend, let’s call her Susan, just returned from her ‘gap month’ in Brazil.

At first I am really interested and want to hear it all. I do not really mind Susan saying the same story twice in a row repeating it for Katherine, who just joined our conversation. But by the third time Susan is starting to speak about the same situation, at this point I feel free to sneak off and get a new drink – typical networking move, when you do want to end the conversation. As I return Susan is, for a change, quiet and the conversation moves onto the subject of cars/marketing/beauty, basically everything but travel. You get the picture.

Somehow Susan manages to change each subject back to her travel experience, which would be great if it was relevant. It isn’t. We all slowly start hoping Susan will get thirsty so we can talk about something else other than her experience. The ugly truth is that after a while the stories get old and boring.

I at times used to be Susan so hands up, I was guilty. I like to think that I am not that person anymore I bet sometimes I still am. However I hope that I have learned how to judge and spot who is interested, partly because I found a few ways to relive my travel experiences without being a pain in the…

Catch the memories for longer

I take photos, a lot of them trying a variety of perspective or different camera settings, but not all of them will ever be shown to the public. I pick only a few that show the range of activities, views, and food from my holidays.

For my own personal pleasure I keep all editing, picking and printing till the days become darker. For me it is a way to have a little bit of summer with me even though Autumn or Winter are going crazy with the rain and wind outdoors. Once again, I am having my own dolce vita but this time not in Cefalu, Ortigia, Taormina, but in my own flat.

Scrapbook

Not all of the images will take a proud place in a picture frame but the ones that I like will make their way out from the digital world into a physical copy. These ones are going to be carefully placed into my travel scrapbook. I love the evenings when I sit on the carpet for hours with a hot tea and an apple pie trying a variety of combinations to make sure each photo looks its best in the scrapbook.

Sometimes I actually celebrate my ‘scrapbook evening’ and extend it for an extra day or two, which makes my partner believe that I am a messy person, I am not. That’s not really the case; I am just extending the joy.

Holiday Themed Get Together

Instead of hearing and saying the same stories over and over again my friends and I meet up when the greyness gets just too much for us, and we share everything about our holidays. Quite often there is wine and cakes involved. During evenings like this even the same story that everyone already knows is allowed back into the conversation.